Soft Rocked By Me sung on Bravo!!!

Ok, welcome to a surreal experience. Every now and then I watch a program called Millionaire Matchmaker on Bravo. On this show, a real live Jewish matchmaker helps millionaires find their 'soul mates.' Anyway, I was watching Bravo today, and they keep playing commercials for the next episode, to air on Thursday. One of the millionaires, who the commercials blatantly portray as a complete dweeb, sings a line from a song: "Have you ever been in love with a man who's sensitive?" I really couldn't believe it... am I hearing what I think I'm hearing?! I really laughed my ass off at that. But still, JoCo fame, right? I wonder if he gets any royalties from that. In any case, I now MUST watch that episode to see how much of the song gets played, if any of it does. I couldn't find a clip of the guy singing the song online, but here's a clip of the guy who sings it in the commercial: http://www.hulu.com/watch/64739/the-millionaire-matchmaker-left-brainiac

Comments

He actually had a guitar out and was singing the song. I can't say he's a particularly good singer, but he hit the notes more or less correct. They only played a veeery short clip of it (that one line), but I recognized it.

Uh, besides the copyright infringement, is that really the song you want to sing on a show to find you a girlfriend? I'll be here waiting when your boyfriend calls, you will be soft rocked by me, etc etc.

I thought the same thing, CoolJammer. You really shouldn't be singing a song like that on a dating video. Only a tiny percentage of the population is going to get the irony. The rest will think you have no balls.

Well he's not trying to impress everyone in the country, just the girl he's with. Maybe he thought she'd get it. Maybe she's a JoCo fan too, ya never know. Or maybe he's just an idiot. Who knows? Tune in Thursday.

ETA: Okay, I just saw the commercial, so ignore my last comment (he's not with a girl when he's singing, he's just on video by himself).

It's not illegal if he gives JoCo credit. It's probably not even illegal if he doesn't, just as people playing cover songs in concert don't have to say who they're from. But we had that discussion in the thread about the guy in Disneyland.

Anyway, maybe he explains it before or after singing, so that the irony is clear. I'd date a guy who sang a JoCo song in his video. At least it wasn't Millionaire Girlfriend.

Did he? I don't remember that, I'll have to reread the thread. Does JoCo pay the bands he covers in concert? Sometimes he doesn't even say who they are. Other artists don't even mention they're playing covers. Anyway, whatever the rules for covering other artists are, I thought JoCo's license was okay with it as long as you credited him and didn't make money from it, and this guy is just trying to make a love connection, not money. It would be awkward for JoCo to request a percentage of that.

I saw that commercial while my boyfriend and I were watching some movie or another. I yelped "Hey, that guy was singing a JoCo song!" And then I spent the remainder of the commercial break wondering why he'd pick that song. :S

Hmm, I wonder if playing it on a show like that is a violation of the BY-NC licence Jonathan uses. It's a bit odd, because they're not using it in the soundtrack as such, but somebody participating in the show yet not a presenter is singing it.

I'm glad I don't have to figure these things out for real. Nice to hear it played though!

I guess playing it on the show itself would be okay (as long as they credited JoCo) because they presumably wouldn't make any extra money from that (assuming they make money from people watching the show, and people don't know the song will be there until they're already watching it), and JoCo would get a lot of exposure. But playing it on the ad might make more people watch the show, thus getting them more money. So, I don't know. Indeed, somebody let JoCo decide.

Actually, you don't have to pay royalties on performances of cover songs-- the venue actually has to pay them, believe it or not. But you do have to pay fees for *recordings* of covers.

This guy e-mailed Jonathan probably 9 months ago about this whole thing and they worked out all kinds of stuff. So nobody is infringing on anything. The way I understand it is, this is a recording of a cover (obviously: television); as you know, Jonathan's CC license covers noncommercial stuff, but since this is for Bravo, it's commercial. Usually the network would cover licensing fees, but in this er, *special* case, he did it himself.

I'm watching the episode now. The guy is actually kinda dork-funny. However, they just showed the preview of him on the actual date .. and he's standing on stage at a club and apparently he's going to play the song AGAIN. Hooboy. For anyone watching for repeats or whatever, the episode is "Paul and Alex".

Well, he butchered it and through the magic of splicing, I even get the feeling the regular musician on the stage implied it was an original =/ ... but again, I gotta give it to the guy, he was charming and clearly he and his date like each other. Alex, if you're reading ... good job, hope the relationship developed

Colleen is correct.venues pay a flat fee to either BMI or ASCAP, as far as I know they are not required to track what is played that determination is made based on the type of music the house normally plays. Kind of like protection money.

pretty muchI had a friend who owned a pipe and cigar store. They used to play a radio in the store and had a couple of speakers in different corners of the store.A guy from BMI came by and told them that that was no longer personal use but public performance and therefore they would need to pay BMI if they wished to continue. Regardless of the fact that the radio station already pays them.